System and method for accessibility accounting services

• US 20040117278A1
• Filed: 12/12/2002
• Published: 06/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dutta, Rabindranath, Hartley, John C., Schwerdtfeger, Richard Scott
• Application Number:
  US10/318,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20040117278A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A system and method for accessibility accounting services is presented. An advertisement server receives a accounting request corresponding to a user-initiated content transcoding request. The accounting server uses a user identifier that corresponds to the user to determine whether to authorize the content transcoding request. When the accounting server authorizes the content transcoding request, the accounting server tracks transcoding costs associated with the content transcoding request, such as content owner fees and transcoding server fees. On a frequent basis, such as monthly, the accounting server analyzes transcoding costs and bills its customers, such as an insurance server and a user, a transcoding fee.

Claims

1. A method of account management for content transcoding, said method comprising:

receiving an accounting request from a requester over a computer network, wherein the accounting request corresponds to a content transcoding event;

determining a billing amount corresponding to the content transcoding event; and

charging one or more accounts based upon the billing amount.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the accounting request includes a user identifier, the method further comprising:

matching the user identifier with one or more entries located in an accounting look-up table;

authorizing the content transcoding event in response to the matching, wherein the determination and the charging are performed in response to the authorizing.

3. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the requester is selected from the group consisting of a portal server, a client, a web server, and a transcoding proxy server.

4. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the charging further comprises:

sending an electronic bill to one of the accounts, the electronic bill including the billing amount; and

receiving an electronic payment in response to the electronic bill.

5. The method as described in claim 1 wherein at least one of the accounts are selected from the group consisting of a user account, an insurance server account, an advertisement server account, a portal server account, a web server account, and a transcoding proxy server account.

6. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the charging further comprises:

identifying a coverage amount, wherein the coverage amount corresponds to a portion of the billing amount that is authorized by an insurance provider;

charging the insurance provider the coverage amount; and

billing a user account a remaining amount, wherein the remaining amount equals the difference between the billing amount and the coverage amount.

7. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the accounting request includes a user identifier, the method further comprising:

receiving, at the requester, a content request from a client, the client corresponding to the user identifier, and wherein the requestor is selected from the group consisting of a portal server, a web server, and a transcoding proxy server;

generating the accounting request, wherein the accounting request corresponds to the content request and includes the user identifier;

sending a coverage request to an insurance provider, wherein the coverage request includes the user identifier;

sending an accessibility record request from the insurance provider to an accessibility database server, wherein the accessibility record request includes to the user identifier;

receiving accessibility data corresponding to the accessibility record request;

authorizing a coverage amount based upon the accessibility data; and

receiving the coverage amount from the insurance provider.

8. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory accessible by the processors;

one or more nonvolatile storage devices accessible by the processors; and

an account management tool to manage content transcoding, the account management tool including;

means for receiving an accounting request from a requester over a computer network, wherein the accounting request corresponds to a content transcoding event;

means for determining a billing amount corresponding to the content transcoding event; and

means for charging one or more accounts based upon the billing amount.

9. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the accounting request includes a user identifier, the information handling system further comprising:

means for matching the user identifier with one or more entries located in an accounting look-up table, the accounting look-up tabled stored on one of the nonvolatile storage devices;

means for authorizing the content transcoding event in response to the matching, wherein the determination and the charging are performed in response to the authorizing.

10. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the means for charging further comprises:

means for sending an electronic bill to one of the accounts, the electronic bill including the billing amount; and

means for receiving an electronic payment in response to the electronic bill.

11. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein at least one of the accounts are selected from the group consisting of a user account, an insurance server account, an advertisement server account, a portal server account, a web server account, and a transcoding proxy server account.

12. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the charging further comprises:

means for identifying a coverage amount, wherein the coverage amount corresponds to a portion of the billing amount that is authorized by an insurance provider;

means for charging the insurance provider the coverage amount; and

means for billing a user account a remaining amount, wherein the remaining amount equals the difference between the billing amount and the coverage amount.

13. The information handling system as described in claim 8 wherein the accounting request includes a user identifier, the information handling system further comprising:

means for receiving a content request from a client, the client corresponding to the user identifier, and wherein the requestor is selected from the group consisting of a portal server, a web server, and a transcoding proxy server;

means for generating the accounting request, wherein the accounting request corresponds to the content request and includes the user identifier;

means for sending a coverage request to an insurance provider, wherein the coverage request includes the user identifier;

means for sending an accessibility record request to an accessibility database server, wherein the accessibility record request includes to the user identifier;

means for receiving accessibility data corresponding to the accessibility record request;

means for authorizing a coverage amount based upon the accessibility data; and

means for receiving the coverage amount from the insurance provider.

14. A computer program product stored on a computer operable media for account management of content transcoding, said computer program product comprising:

means for receiving an accounting request from a requestor over a computer network, wherein the accounting request corresponds to a content transcoding event;

means for determining a billing amount corresponding to the content transcoding event; and

means for charging one or more accounts based upon the billing amount.

15. The computer program product as described in claim 14 wherein the accounting request includes a user identifier, the computer program product further comprising:

means for matching the user identifier with one or more entries located in an accounting look-up table;

means for authorizing the content transcoding event in response to the matching, wherein the determination and the charging are performed in response to the authorizing.

16. The computer program product as described in claim 14 wherein the requester is selected from the group consisting of a portal server, a client, a web server, and a transcoding proxy server.

17. The computer program product as described in claim 14 wherein the means for charging further comprises:

means for sending an electronic bill to one of the accounts, the electronic bill including the billing amount; and

means for receiving an electronic payment in response to the electronic bill.

18. The computer program product as described in claim 14 wherein at least one of the accounts are selected from the group consisting of a user account, an insurance server account, an advertisement server account, a portal server account, a web server account, and a transcoding proxy server account.

19. The computer program product as described in claim 14 wherein the means for charging further comprises:

means for identifying a coverage amount, wherein the coverage amount corresponds to a portion of the billing amount that is authorized by an insurance provider;

means for charging the insurance provider the coverage amount; and

means for billing a user account a remaining amount, wherein the remaining amount equals the difference between the billing amount and the coverage amount.

20. The computer program product as described in claim 14 wherein the accounting request includes a user identifier, the computer program product further comprising:

means for receiving a content request from a client, the client corresponding to the user identifier, and wherein the requester is selected from the group consisting of a portal server, a web server, and a transcoding proxy server;

means for generating the accounting request, wherein the accounting request corresponds to the content request and includes the user identifier;

means for sending a coverage request to an insurance provider, wherein the coverage request includes the user identifier;

means for sending an accessibility record request to an accessibility database server, wherein the accessibility record request includes to the user identifier;

means for receiving accessibility data corresponding to the accessibility record request;

means for authorizing a coverage amount based upon the accessibility data; and

means for receiving the coverage amount from the insurance provider.